At the End of the Hall
by Sqully
Summary: Carby A little girl is brought into the ER for help, but cannot be saved from her own father.
1. Prologue

**At the End of the Hall**

**Prologue**

He sniffed in his half-asleep coma, efficiently blocking out the noise she made as she dropped her thick winter coat on the chair and kicked off her shoes. So it was a surprise when the blankets were pulled off him and her body weight took its place. Grunting he opened his eyes blurrily and squinted at her as she pulled the blankets back over her and snuggles into his chest; folding her arms underneath them. He sighs deeply, half yawning as he pulls the pillow further under his head so he can look down at her before he wraps his arms around her.

"Tough night?" He asks sleepily. Moaning softly, she shifts, nodding.

"A little girl came in, raped and assaulted, she was found in an alley outside Denny's." Her tired voice doesn't lie as she tiredly shifts again, getting comfortable. He can tell the case upset her.

"How old was she?" She bites her lip, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Seven, Becky. Long dark hair, Indian I think. Anyways, we don't even know her last name; hence we can't find her parents." Because her eyes are closed, he looks up at the ceiling, eventually closing his eyes, gently rubbing her back soothingly.

"Why don't you have her last name?"

"Well, she hasn't been conscious long enough to ask her, but 'Becky' is engraved on a leather bracelet on her wrist." She's quiet for awhile until she says quietly before drifting off.

"No one deserves that."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o **Two hours earlier **o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Okay, you know what? I don't think the snow is helping here." Susan Lewis complains as she stumbles into the ER, shaking the inch of snow off her black coat and blonde hair. Jing-Mei Chen snorts as she pulls a chart off the rack.

"Susan, I think every conscious human that has come in here said that." Susan nods knowingly as she backs into the lounge. Where she finds Abby Lockhart doing, yep you guessed it, paper work. She chuckles sadly.

"Paper work huh? Kerry desked you?" She looks up to her resignedly, along with a sigh of irritation.

"It would appear so wouldn't it?" Throwing open her locker, Susan begins taking off her coat.

"I don't understand why, I would think you of all people would be helpful." All that gets is a hollow laugh out of Abby.

"You would _like_ to think I'd be helpful or at least have something to do. But I'll take a guess that you haven't seen the board yet…hm?"

"Nope." She replies, closing her locker as she slings her stethoscope around her neck, which causes her have to fix the collar of her white lab coat.

"Well, I'll fill you in." Abby starts as she drops the pen and looks up to the blonde doctor.

"As of, maybe ten, we've had a grand total of eight patients, half of which are already gone. Triage is empty except for the homeless woman who comes in every Wednesday because she thinks that Tuesday brings on brain tumors, so that leaves squat to do." Susan laughs softly, taking a sip of the coffee she poured into the Styrofoam cup as the nurse explained the situation.

"What time do you get off?" Abby looks down at her watch with a yawn.

"Hour and half, and believe me, I'm going home and crashing, and not waking up until the blue moon shines down upon our pitiful city . . ." Her voice fades out as she stares dreamily out the window at the snow. Susan sighs with a shake of her head.

"You really need some coffee and some sleep." She comments with a chuckle while striding out of the small room. Abby runs a hand through her hair and cracks her neck. Then her head flops over to the window again.

"Oh what a pitiful city . . ."

Theme song starts with credits.

:I hope that was okay! Review please! They inspire me to write more:


	2. 1: Around the Corner

**At the End of the Hall**

**Chapter one: Around the Corner**

"Is it just me, or are these last fifteen minutes going to go as slow as hell?" Abby asked as she slammed down a stack of papers on the admit desk at twelve forty-five pm. Chuny Marquez didn't look up from chart she's reviewing when she responds.

"At least you only have fifteen minutes left; I don't get out of here till five." Abby sighs, leaning her head against the nearest wall.

"All I can think about is sleeping till six . . ." Chuny looks up to her, confused.

"I thought you didn't get back on till nine-thirty?" She sighs, once again glancing up at the old clock, twelve-forty nine. Does it get any slower than this?

"I do get here at nine, but I wake up with Carter and on his way to work he drops me off at the park and I go jogging." The older nurse grins widely.

"Oooh how's that going by the way?" Abby smiles mysteriously and begins walking away.

"Oh come on! Is it that good?" Chuny calls after her, not getting a response but smiling anyways. Abby pushes the door to Exam Two open with her back, holding the chart in front. A Janice Coldman. Abby turns around to find the woman in maybe her early thirties, looking slightly nervous. Trying to make the atmosphere more calming, she walks forward to introduce herself.

"Hello, I'm Abby Lockhart, and I'll be your nurse for about ten more minutes at the latest. What seems to be the problem Ms. Coldman?" The young woman fidgets for a second.

"Well, I've been having really bad migraines that go on for long periods of time, and my period is getting heavier." Abby nods while jotting it down.

"Anything else? Nausea? Or night sweats?" She nods no, and Abby scribbles some more down on her chart.

"Alright, I'm going to take a sample of your blood for a CBC, and a doctor will be in shortly to see you." Ms. Coldman nods, and thanks her as Abby begins. Finished, she exits and places the blood sample on the appropriate tray. Inhaling deeply, she looks around to find Pratt just walking in, and grins. They near each and she stuffs the chart in his hands and turns away before he can stop her.

"What's this?"

"Your new patient in Exam Two." She calls over her shoulder. He stares at her incredibly.

"Who says I'm on right away?"

"Well, I'm off now, so have fun." She just smiles again, disappearing into the lounge. Pratt sighs, standing in the same spot.

"Unbelievable." He mutters.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o

Beep beep beep beep bee- her hand stings slightly from slamming it down upon the damn alarm clock. Swallowing, she looks down at Carter who's still sleeping underneath her. Smiling softly she lies back down, stroking his cheek.

"Jooooohn . . ." She coos quietly. Nothing.

"Jooooohn . . ." Nothing. She's about to yell in his ear when he springs up, flipping her over onto her back. Abby gasps in shock only realize he doesn't look tired at all and has probably been awake this whole time. She stares up at him warily.

"You were awake but made me turn off the alarm?" He just grins. But his silly grin is wiped off when she smacks his arm. He pushes himself up so he's straddling her legs with his knees; rubbing his arm in mock hurt.

"Hey I've got to use that."

"Yeah, well use it to help me up." He does, then she wraps her arms around his neck and they kiss.

"Now go shower, you now only have forty-five minutes to get to work." He hops off the bed leaving her to flop back down. Before he reaches the doorway, he turns back to her, mock greatfullness featuring on his handsome face.

"What would I do without you _Mom_?" Her mouth drops open and she chucks a pillow at him. She hit the door he just closed of course, but that's not the point. Groaning, she gets off the bed and begins walking into the kitchen.

"Jerk . . ." She stares out the window at the blizzard. The snow isn't as heavy as it was yesterday, and isn't coming down as hard, but is still gonna make driving a bitch. Groaning, she reaches the kitchen and rubs her arms with her hands, suddenly cold.

"Maybe I should re-think the whole jogging thing." She comments lightly to herself. After clicking on the coffee maker, she wraps the quilt from the couch around her, shivering.

"Where the hell is the heat?" Peering at the thermostat, she learns that it's sixty-six degrees.

"No wonder." She turns it up then turns on the TV to see weather as the shower turns off.

". . . you better be careful on the roads this morning, even the plows are making a slow trip to the icy roads." Groaning, she falls onto the small couch, bouncing slightly. She sits there for a while, listening to John shaving in the bathroom.

"Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." Rolling her eyes, she gets up, thinking 'stupid coffee maker'. She's finishing up pouring her coffee when she's grabbed around the waist and spun around. Giggling as she's dropped back to the ground, she places her hands on his arms that are about her waist.

"Energetic this morning are we?" He just smiles and dips his head to gently kiss her, but it doesn't last long because she pulls away.

"I need to get dressed if I'm coming into work early with you." Pulling away from him, she begins walking into their bedroom, discarding the quilt and already taking off the over sized shirt that belongs to the bemused boyfriend standing in the kitchen.

"You're not going jogging?" He calls out to her, getting a little bit more than sarcastic comment back.

"I'd rather not jog when I have to wear snow pants." For the first time this morning, Carter slowly looks outside, and sighs profoundly loud.

"Shiiiiiiiiit."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Kerry Weaver slightly limps quickly into admit looking around, searching for her Chief Resident. Dr. Mike Gallant smiles.

"Relax Dr. Weaver, have you seen the roads? He's probably on his way." She just walks past.

"He should have left earlier if he knew there would be this much damn snow." Gallant just rolls his eyes, still reading over his patients chart. The sound of the ambulance pulling up interrupts his evaluation and he looks up to see Dr. Luka Kovac throwing him a gown.

"You're with me." He nods, dropping the chart and tugging on the faded yellowy gown.

"What do we have?" They wait as the victim is pushed in on a gurney by two paramedics.

"Pedestrian meets biker, Patricia Marbet, has a GCS of 4, intubated en route; her left clavicle looks snapped in half, she's been unconscious the whole time. Pulse of 120, BP is 100 over 60. She's all yours." He added, and turned away as Luka, Pratt, and Conni take the gurney, heading for Trauma Two. A couple minutes later Abby and Carter come in; shaking off the ton of snow they have collected on their coats. Jerry snorts, taking a drink from his coke. He gestured to them with it.

"You two look like that kid on that commercial where he's a snowman and then the soup melts him." He starts chuckling while they just walk past him into the lounge. Jerry sighs.

"I thought it was funny." He mutters to himself, face falling.

"For all its worth, that's what they looked like." Susan says, walking in and erasing a name off the board.

"Thanks Dr. Lewis, at least some supports my humor."

"I only support a small portion of it." He smiles, turning away to answer the ringing phone.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Time of death, 9:08." Luka's voice is rough from breathing hard as he looks around at the sorrow filled eyes of his colleagues, then finally to the little girl who didn't deserve this fate. Abby backed out of the trauma room slowly, eyes frozen in remorse. It just didn't matter anymore. Her fingers sting slightly as she yanks the bloody gloves off. The inevitable flood of emotions smack her in the face and she whirls around, heading into the hallway, slamming the doors open so hard they hit the wall and barely miss her, where the policeman, who she met earlier, stands. The fury rises in her as she nears him.

"You bastard you let her leave." Abby's low, dangerous voice causes the man to stare at her with fake confusion.

"Excuse me?" She wants so badly just to swing one of her tightly clenched fists into his face when an arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her backwards.

"You let him take her, you bastard!" Other doctors and patients turn to watch as the officer averts his eyes guiltily. She thrashes in Carter's arms, but he overpowers her and manages to get into an empty room. Her jaw is clenched, fingers aching to be released, eyes close as she turns around to bury her face in his chest, and his arms immediately pull her closer, trying to calm her down. Her fists finally loosen and much needed blood is allowed through. Carter listens as her breathing evens, but she keeps her tears in.

"This is all my fault, I shouldn't have let her leave, I knew it was the fath-"

"Stop it; it's not your fault. There's nothing else you could've done." Abby pulled back to brush a couple strands of hair in her face, but stopped. Her nails had punctured the delicate skin of each palm; a small trickle of blood appeared with all eight wounds.

"Oh, Abby." They began stinging, so she curled her fingers, pressing them against the pain.

"Come on; let's get your hands bandaged." She allowed her boyfriend to lead her over to the cabinets, and then continued to wash off both hands, placing a thin layer of gauze around each.

"Thank you." He smiled.

"You looked ready to murder that guy."

"He deserved it." The door flew open, revealing Chuny.

"Carter, you're patient is crashing." A few minutes later Abby watches through the window as Carter shocked the young man, his chest heaving upwards, barking orders. They continue on, and she turned around and walked away. They already moved her body.

"Excuse me; do you know which room has the little girl who died in trauma two?" The orderly nodded.

"End of the hall."

"You don't need to do that." Abby, in the middle of the death kit, looked sadly up at Dr. Kovac.

"Yes, I do."

(I'm no doctor, so don't pay any attention to medical stuff. I try, but most is probably off. Should I continue? I'm thinking of making a series, yes no horrible? Please review)


End file.
